"Consciousness is not a thing that exists, but an event that occurs."
Joseph Goldstein
Joseph Goldstein
"After five minutes, or ten, or fifteen - it doesn’t matter - open your eyes and resume your day. For a moment or two things might seem more alive."
Mark Epstein
Mark Epstein
"Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise."
Ram Dass
Ram Dass
"Discipline provides a constancy which is independent of what kind of day you had yesterday and what kind of day you anticipate today."
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Staying occupied is a socially sanctioned way of remaining distant from our pain.”
Tara Brach
Tara Brach
"Our job can function as a kind of narcotic, covering the unrest and turbulence of our minds. And a lifestyle that alternates between a lot of work and a lot of fun can keep us constantly busy, without ever having any clue about the true meaning of life or the potential of human consciousness.”
B. Alan Wallace
B. Alan Wallace
"Making one’s life into a meditation is different from using meditation to escape from life."
Mark Epstein
Mark Epstein
“Mindfulness meditation encourages us to become more patient and compassionate with ourselves and to cultivate open-mindedness and gentle persistence. These qualities help free us from the gravitational pull of anxiety, stress and unhappiness by reminding us what science has shown: that it’s OK to stop treating sadness and other difficulties as problems that need to be solved."
Mark Williams
Mark Williams
"Observing our mind can be more enjoyable than watching a Hollywood movie. The screen, the projector, the story, the characters and the drama are all part of our own experience. Such an amazing theater production could not be bought by millions of dollars. Our ticket to this theater is “seeing beyond": realizing that phenomena do not exist as they appear.”
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
"But forgiveness is the act of not putting anyone out of your heart, even those who are acting out of deep ignorance or out of confusion and pain."
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
"Anger shows us precisely where we are stuck, where our limits are, where we cling to beliefs and fears."
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
“Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.”
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl
"Real security comes only from feeling at ease with our insecurity. To feel comfortable with the flow of things, at ease when we are insecure, this is the greatest security because nothing can get us out of balance. When we try to solidify, stopping the flow of water, repressing it, keeping things the way they are because it makes us feel safe and secure, we are in trouble. This attitude goes directly against the entire flow of life.”
(Book: Into the Heart of Life)
Tenzin Palmo
Tenzin Palmo
"Observe your mind all day long and try to recognize any grudges you're still holding. This applies to anything that gives you even the most subtle feeling of discomfort. Then, practice developing tolerance and patience by focusing on those feelings. Remember that the main thing at stake here is your peace and your cheerful mood.”
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
"From the perspective of meditation, every state is a special state, every moment a special moment."
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
“You don't want to block your thoughts, emotions, and so on; nor do you want to chase after them. If you chase after them, if you let them lead you, they begin to define you, and you lose your ability to respond openly and spontaneously in the present moment. On the other hand, if you attempt to block your thoughts, your mind can become quite tight and small.”
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"At some point, all superficial travels around the world stop making sense, and there’s a need to go deeper, to some challenging and unexpected place. Movement makes more sense when it’s grounded in stillness.
I’m coming to believe that, in an age of speed, nothing could be more refreshing than going slowly. In an age of distraction, nothing could be more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”
Pico Iyer
Pico Iyer
"What we call obstacles are really the way the world and our entire experience teach us where we’re stuck."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention."
Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg
"Spend 10 seconds of every hour wishing that someone else may be happy. It’s transformative."
Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard
"Do not be afraid to face your difficulties. Turn toward it. Lean into the wind. Hold your ground."
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
"Generally, if you have some sort of mental chatter, you call it 'thoughts'. But if you’re deeply involved in something emotional, you give it special status. You think these deserve the special privilege of being called ‘emotion’.
Regarding the practice of meditation, your thoughts are no longer treated like VIPs while you meditate. You think, you meditate; you think, you meditate. Just let it be. Call them ‘thoughts’.”
Chogyam Trungpa
Chogyam Trungpa
"Just watch this moment, without trying to change it at all. What is happening? What do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear?"
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
"When the situation is good, enjoy it. When the situation is bad, transform it. When the situation can’t be transformed, transform yourself."
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl
"Silence is sometimes the best answer."
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
"Having a simple mind is not the same as being 'basic'. Simplicity of mind is reflected in wakefulness, inner strength, alertness and a healthy contentment that suffers the tribulations of life with a light heart. Simplicity reveals the nature of the mind behind the veil of restless thoughts. It reduces the feeling of exaggerated self-importance and opens our hearts up to genuine altruism.”
Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard
"The point of meditation is not to stop thinking. What needs to be stopped is the compulsive, mechanical and unintelligent conceptualization – this tiresome, often useless and sometimes seriously harmful activity."
B. Alan Wallace
B. Alan Wallace
"If you come to me and say – 'I can’t meditate, my mind is going everywhere: here, there, past, present, future' – I should give you a medal. You’re finally meditating. The whole purpose of the instructions is to help you realize that you usually can’t concentrate.”
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
"We do not need to get rid of the ego - this unchanging, solid, and unhealthy sense of self - because it never existed in the first place."
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"When the mind grows calmer through meditation, we experience more and more what is happening moment to moment. We begin to see that life is much more interesting than our thoughts about it."
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
"Meditation is a process of formation and transformation. In order for it to have meaning, it must be reflected in every aspect of our way of being, in each one of our actions and attitudes. Otherwise, it will be a waste of time. That means we must persevere with serenity, vigilance and determination, and we’ll discover that, over time, real changes are happening within us.”
Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard
"To be free is to own yourself. It is not doing whatever comes to mind but rather freeing yourself from being subject to the afflictions that dominate and obscure the mind. This means taking the wheels of your life, instead of allowing inner trends created by habit and mental confusion to run it."
Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard
"Whenever a person feels depressed, frightened or thinks that the situation is not right, they immediately begin to polish the table or clean the garden, seeking some distraction. They don’t want to deal with the underlying problem and, therefore, seek some kind of momentary pleasure. They fear the space, any empty corner.”
Chogyam Trungpa
Chogyam Trungpa
"Cultivating meditation is no different from having a meal. It would be insane to suggest that someone eat it for you. And when you go to a restaurant, you don’t eat the menu thinking it is the food, nor do you feel satisfied simply by listening to the waiter describing the options. You have to eat in order to feel nourished. Similarly, you need to practice meditation in order to reap the benefits and understand why it is so valuable.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
“When someone says to us, as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, "Darling, I care about your suffering," a deep healing begins.”
Tara Brach
Tara Brach
"Most of the time we are trying to get good things to last; or thinking about how to replace them with something even better in the future; or getting stuck in the past thinking about those happy days. Ironically, we never really enjoyed the experience that we feel nostalgic about, because at the time we were too busy clinging to our hopes and fears.”
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
“Why do we meditate? First, it’s helpful to understand that meditation is not just about feeling good. To think that that is why we meditate is to set ourselves up to failure. We will assume that we are doing something wrong almost every time we sit down to practice: even the most determined meditator experiences psychological and physical pain. Meditation accepts us as we are, with our confusion and sanity. It is unconditional kindness, a simple and direct relationship with the way we are.”
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"When we look at the world, we find inconceivable suffering. Sometimes we can help others. But most of the time, there is not much we can do. At such times, it is powerful and meaningful to sit quietly and witness... To genuinely be there for others, humbly and silently.”
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
"Give up defining yourself – for both yourself and others. And do not worry about how others define you. When they define you, they are limited, so that’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as a field of conscious presence. You can only lose something you have – you can’t lose something you are.”
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
"Love is the ability to care, protect, nourish. If you are not able to generate that kind of energy for yourself, it’s very difficult to take care of someone else. Loving yourself is the foundation of loving others. Love is a practice.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
"It is not because things are difficult that we don’t dare. It's because we don’t dare that they are difficult."
Seneca
Seneca
"The main purpose of meditation is to transform oneself, in order to better transform the world, and become a better human being, in order to better serve others. Meditation allows us to give life its noblest sense."
Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard
“There's no difference between what is seen and the mind that sees it.”
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose."
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
"The world is full of pain, uncertainty, and injustice. But in this vulnerable human life, every loss is an opportunity either to shut out the world or to stand up with dignity and let the heart respond."
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
"Freedom means being able to choose how to react to things. When wisdom is not well developed, it may be obscured by the provocations of others. We can become like animals. If there is no space between the offending stimulus and its immediate conditioned response (anger) then we are actually under the control of others. When there is wisdom to fill it in, the person is able to respond with patience. it's not that anger is suppressed; it does not even arise.”
Andrew Olendzki
Andrew Olendzki
"Neuroplasticity informs us that the mind and brain are highly changeable, and that the brain is constantly being shaped by experience. Well-being is a skill and can be improved through training."
Richard J. Davidson, PhD
Richard J. Davidson, PhD
“Mindfulness cultivates our ability to do things knowing that we're doing them.”
Mark Williams
Mark Williams
“When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.”
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl
"You do not suffer because things are impermanent. You suffer because things are impermanent, and you think that they are permanent."
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
“There is an old koan about a monk who went to his teacher and said:
- I am a person with great anger. I want you to help me.
The master said:
- Show me your anger.
The monk replied:
- Well, right now I'm not nervous. I can’t show it.
And the master:
- So obviously, this isn’t you, since sometimes the anger is not even there.
Who we are has many faces, but these faces are not what we are.”
-
-
"Remember all of the times when you felt the happiest. I bet that the common denominator is the ability to forget yourself. This is the paradox of happiness. If you really want true joy, you need to let go of the sense of self. And there is nothing more powerful than the experience of compassion to make this possible. So I think that's why compassion is the key to happiness.”
Thupten Jinpa
Thupten Jinpa
"Why be unhappy about something if it can be remedied? And what is the use of being unhappy about something if it cannot be remedied?"
Shantideva
Shantideva
"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl
"Our external freedom depends on the degree of inner freedom that we have developed in a given moment. And if this is the correct view of freedom, our main energies must be focused on enacting some inner reform.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
“When you transform your mind, everything you experience is transformed.”
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"There’s no point in being unhappy about things you can’t change, and no point being unhappy about things you can."
Dan Harris
Dan Harris
"Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows."
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
"We are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another."
Ram Dass
Ram Dass
"Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"If you are meditating and an image or an unpleasant desire appears, no problem. No harm is done by the presence of negative thoughts, as long as you do not fixate on them. The problem is a sticky awareness that closes itself around negative thoughts like:
‘How can I think such a thing? But I like to think... Yet I shouldn’t…’
The problem is identification and fixation, not the thoughts themselves.”
B. Alan Wallace
B. Alan Wallace
“Our way of acting depends on our way of thinking and our way of thinking depends on our energy. Once we recognize this, we just have to say, “Hello, habitual energy” and make friends with our patterns and habits of thought and action. When we can accept these ingrained thoughts and not feel guilty about them, they lose much of their power over us.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
"Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time - past and future - the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is."
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
"It’s important that we don’t identify so strongly with our personality. It's just a mask. We don’t have to hold on to this mask. It can be altered."
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
"The answer lies within us. If we can’t find peace and happiness within, they will not come from outside.”
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
"Meditation is not a sedative, it’s a laxative."
Chogyam Trungpa
Chogyam Trungpa
"The past has gone, the future has not come, so the most important moment of your life is always right here, right now."
Chamtrul Rinpoche
Chamtrul Rinpoche
"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the now the primary focus of your life."
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
"A feeling of aversion or attachment toward something is your clue that there's work to be done."
Ram Dass
Ram Dass
"Happiness ultimately arises from the choice between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by them."
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"Life only unfolds in moments. The healing power of mindfulness lies in living each of those moments as fully as we can, accepting it as it is as we open to what comes next - in the next moment of now."
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
"Many people cling to the past or the future, neglecting the important present. We must live our best “now” with full responsibility. When the sun is shining, enjoy it. When the rain falls, enjoy it. All things in this life – let them come and go. This is the secret that keeps us from getting bored or neurotic.”
Gyomay Kubose
Gyomay Kubose
"The reason we do not open our hearts to others is that they cause confusion in us. To the extent that we regard ourselves with clarity and compassion, we feel confident to look in another person’s eyes.”
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"There is the thought, and then there is the awareness of thought. The difference between being conscious of a thought and merely thinking is huge. Usually, we are so identified with our thoughts and emotions, that we feel like we are them. We are happiness, we are anger, we are fear. We must learn to take a step back and know that our thoughts and emotions are just thoughts and emotions. They are just mental states. There are not solid, but transparent.”
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
"When we cultivate self-compassion, we do not evaluate ourselves according to our achievements or compare ourselves to others. We learn to recognize our faults and limitations with patience, understanding and kindness. We come to see our problems in the larger context of our shared humanity. Thus, self-compassion, unlike self-esteem, makes us more connected with each other and more accessible to them. Through acceptance, it promotes a more realistic understanding.”
(Book: A Fearless Heart)
Thupten Jinpa
Thupten Jinpa
"Meditation frees up space in our mind, gives room to experience. Usually, our lives are so cluttered that we have no space to breathe. But meditation gives us room to breathe, so that things can arise and, therefore, understanding and experience may appear. Especially nowadays, what we don’t have in our everyday lives is space and silence. Meditation is about returning to our inner silent space.”
(Book: Into the Heart of Life)
Tenzin Palmo
Tenzin Palmo
"Our mind becomes more spacious, more open, and happier as we move past our avoidance and denial to see what is true."
Joseph Goldstein
Joseph Goldstein
"The ego is never satisfied. No matter how much stuff we buy, no matter how many arguments we win or delicious meals we consume, the ego never feels complete."
Dan Harris
Dan Harris
"So, in meditation practice, the best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all."
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
"Where would I find enough leather
To cover the entire surface of the earth?
But with leather soles beneath my feet,
It’s as if the whole world has been covered."
Shantideva
Shantideva
“We might begin by scanning our body... and then asking, 'What is happening?' We might also ask, 'What wants my attention right now?' or, 'What is asking for acceptance?'”
Tara Brach
Tara Brach
"It's unbelievable what we do in our relationships. We give the other person the impossible task of making us happy. We are not taking responsibility for dealing with our own mind. We hope someone fills us with happiness and well-being."
Lama Tsering
Lama Tsering
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
"Generally, it’s during our efforts to help others in their confusion that we experience some relief from our own confusion. This potential for mutual benefit is always present.
For this reason, we should not share in the view that we are intelligent and that the poor confused person in front of us doesn’t know better. At the same time, we should not expect any results or rewards. In short, genuine compassion is something free from maneuvers of any kind.”
(Book: Rebel Buddha)
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
"The opportunity to experience yourself differently is always available."
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"The more relaxed you are, the better you will be in all things. The better you will be with those you love, the better you will be with your enemies, the better you will be at work, the better you will be with yourself."
Bill Murray
Bill Murray
“The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.”
Tara Brach
Tara Brach
"The key is to make meditation a part of our lives, just like weaving a thread in the fabric of a tapestry. Bringing a joyful attitude to our practice helps immensely. When the healing of the mind becomes a habit, our minds become like a great river. Although the river does not always appear to be moving, if we look closely, we will see how the water is slowly going towards the sea.”
Tulku Thondup Rinpoche
Tulku Thondup Rinpoche
“In mindfulness, we start to see the world as it is, not as we expect it to be, how we want it to be, or what we fear it might become.”
Mark Williams
Mark Williams
"The only difference between meditation and deepening a friendship is that, in the first case, the friend you’re slowly getting to know is yourself."
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"Be like a great bird, that can fly through a storm to the peaceful expanse of sky. Fly through the storm of your afflictive emotions to the peaceful expanse of your mind."
Chamtrul Rinpoche
Chamtrul Rinpoche
"The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are moments when we touch one another."
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
"When you are troubled by someone’s negative behavior towards you, treat that person with compassion. Being dominated by thoughts of anger and hatred only poisons the mind. Protect your mind from evil like you would protect a child from getting hurt."
(Book: Genuine Happiness)
B. Alan Wallace
B. Alan Wallace
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl
"We can look directly at disturbing emotions, and other problems we face in our lives, as springboards to freedom. Instead of rejecting them or surrendering to them, we can make friends and work with them in order to reach an authentic and lasting experience of our own inherent wisdom, confidence, clarity and joy.”
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"Anger and jealousy are related to our self-centeredness and our disregard for others. Self-centeredness easily brings forth fear, which favors annoyance, which may lead to violence when it explodes in anger. It's time to accept that if we are talking about world peace, we must consider peace within ourselves."
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
"Let your own experience serve as your guide and inspiration. Let yourself enjoy the view as you travel along the path. The view is your own mind, and because your mind is already enlightened, if you take the opportunity to rest awhile along the journey, eventually you’ll realize that the place you want to reach is the place you already are."
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
“Nothing is wrong—whatever is happening is just 'real life'.”
Tara Brach
Tara Brach
"What provokes us is not as important as how we react."
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
"Like everyone else, I also have anger within me. But I try to remember that anger is a destructive emotion, that scientists say that anger is bad for our health; it destroys our immune system. So anger destroys our peace of mind and our physical health. We should not welcome it, nor think of it as being something natural or friendly.”
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
"By acting compassionately, by helping to restore justice and to encourage peace, we are acknowledging that we are all part of one another."
Ram Dass
Ram Dass
"True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"The quieter you become, the more you can hear."
Ram Dass
Ram Dass
"The reason for not devoting more time to balancing our minds is that we are betting our lives on the premise that we will find the happiness we seek by pursuing transient pleasures."
B. Alan Wallace
B. Alan Wallace
“If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, and creativity.”
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
"The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing."
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
"Breathing gently, people enjoy such rest. But between one breath and the next, there is no guarantee that death won’t intrude. Waking up healthy is an event that really deserves be considered miraculous, yet we still take it for granted.”
(Book: Words of My Perfect Teacher)
Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887)
Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887)
"The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"True happiness comes from the heart. It comes from a mind that has become more stable, clearer, more present in the moment, an open mind that cares about the happiness of other beings. A mind that has security, who knows it can handle whatever happens. A mind that does not cling as hard to things; a mind that holds things lightly. Such is a happy mind.”
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
"An emotion like anger that's an automatic response lasts just ninety seconds from the moment it's triggered until it runs its course. One and a half minutes, that's all. When it lasts any longer, which it usually does, it's because we've chosen to rekindle it."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"Meditation is not a means of forgetting the ego; it is a method of using the ego to observe and tame its own manifestations."
Mark Epstein
Mark Epstein
"Every moment is a new year, every breath a new life, every heartbeat a step into a new world."
Roshi Amy Hollowell
Roshi Amy Hollowell
"We must be aware that what causes discomfort and anxiety are not the events themselves, but how we connect our emotions to these events."
Jonathan García-Allen
Jonathan García-Allen
"Impermanence means that the essence of life is fleeting. Some people are so skillful at their mindfulness practice that they can actually see each and every little movement of mind - changing, changing, changing."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"Stillness does not mean the elimination of disturbances as much as a different way of viewing them."
Mark Epstein
Mark Epstein
"In the end, happiness is limited to choosing between the hassle of becoming aware of mental afflictions and the discomfort of being guided by them."
Mingyur Rinpoche
Mingyur Rinpoche
"When you chase thoughts, you behave like a dog chasing a stick – every time it is thrown, you run after it. But if, instead, you turn your attention to the origin of these thoughts, to where they come from, you will see that each of them appears and dissolves in the space of consciousness, without giving rise to other thoughts. Be like a lion: instead of chasing the stick, turn towards who threw it. With the lion, one only throws the stick once.”
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
"Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions."
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
"It is our mind, and only our mind, who locks us up or liberates us."
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
"Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be."
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
"Practitioners of meditation are sometimes criticized for being too self-centered, for being satisfied with a certain self-centered introspection instead of helping others. But you call selfish an action that seeks to eradicate self-obsession and to cultivate altruism. It would be like criticizing a future doctor for spending years in medical school.”
Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard
"We are hardly ever aware of what we are doing. If we drink coffee, we are not thinking about coffee. We are thinking about what to do next, or what we did yesterday, or get caught up in our fantasies. In other words, we’re basically almost never truly living. We’re always only thinking of living.”
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
"There is nothing more important than getting to know your own mind."
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
"Every time we become aware of a thought, as opposed to being lost in a thought, we experience that opening of the mind."
Joseph Goldstein
Joseph Goldstein
"We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"Perhaps we just need little reminders from time to time that we are already dignified, deserving, worthy. Sometimes we don't feel that way because of the wounds and the scars we carry from the past or because of the uncertainty of the future. It is doubtful that we came to feel undeserving on our own. We were helped to feel unworthy. We were taught it in a thousand ways when we were little, and we learned our lessons well."
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Pain is not wrong. Reacting to pain as wrong initiates the trance of unworthiness. The moment we believe something is wrong, our world shrinks and we lose ourselves in the effort to combat the pain.”
Tara Brach
Tara Brach
"From the moment of our birth, we all wanted to live a happy life. However, many share in the view that our existing education systems are inadequate when it comes to preparing people to be more compassionate (one of the necessary conditions for happiness). As a human brother, I am committed to let people know that we all possess the seeds of love and compassion. Having a smart brain is not enough – we also need a welcoming heart.”
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
"Be here now."
Ram Dass
Ram Dass
"Compassion is a key part of the essential nature of the human being. The key to individual happiness and the well-being of society as a whole is to get in touch with our compassionate side and, from there, deal with ourselves, others and the world.”
(Book: A Fearless Heart)
Thupten Jinpa
Thupten Jinpa
"The source of all difficulties and conflicts lies in the mind, so the solution for all difficulties and conflicts is transforming the mind. That’s why we practice meditation..."
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
"The greatest respect that we can show someone is to not believe that we know who they are."
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
"When intense anger or desire arise, do not reject or suppress them, but also do not follow them. Just look at the emotion itself, eye to eye, and try to relax within the emotion. There’s no confrontation involved. By remaining unattached, you are neither carried away by the emotion nor your reject it."
Ringu Tulku
Ringu Tulku
"Nothing disappears until it has taught us what we need to learn."
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
"Mindfully washing your hands: while rubbing them (20-seconds minimum), breathe deeply and think of three things you are thankful for. While rinsing, bring your attention to the body, notice the sensations, the body breathing. Turn off the water and take three deep breaths. Do not try to change anything, just remain aware and open to the present moment."
Try to bring this quality into the rest of your day.
Try to bring this quality into the rest of your day.
"The traumatized individual lives outside time, in his or her own separate reality, unable to relate to the consensual reality of others. The remembering quality of mindfulness counters this tendency."
Mark Epstein
Mark Epstein
"Compassion brings peace of mind. This puts a smile on our faces – and genuine smiles bring us closer. Nowadays, education needs to not only develop our intelligence, but also support basic human values like, for instance, a loving and compassionate heart. These are not exclusive qualities of religious people, because as human beings, we all want peace of mind."
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
"The strange thing about worry is that it really doesn’t help. It just aggravates the situation. It's hard to be present and confident, since we are living in the future or in the past, which only generates more fear and worry.”
Sakyong Mipham
Sakyong Mipham
"People often complain that practice is difficult, involves a lot of effort, and may think that this is not for them... But what’s difficult is not the practice in itself, it’s people's habits. Take, for instance, smokers. They claim that quitting smoking is very difficult. But for people who don’t smoke, it’s not difficult at all. It’s important to keep in mind that the dif